Photographs on Social Media: Sharing Vs Stealing

Do you, as a professional photographer, ever feel uneasy about posting your photographs on social media, fearing that someone might copy them for their own use?

The lines of “sharing” and illegally stealing have been blurry, but as social media and our digital landscape continues to grow and be the norm, cases like that of photographer Daniel Morel appear to be setting the precedent.

Morel posted pictures to Twitter of Haiti he had taken after the 2010 earthquake. The photographs were taken and used for commercial purposes so Morel sued. He ended up winning $1.2 million in the case.

More and more of these lawsuits have been creeping up from all different social media and other sites. The important point that these cases continue to show that photographer’s content is generally safe even when posted to different forms of social media.

Please share any tips or thoughts you have on this matter in the comments below!